Fitness Friday: Better Than Yesterday

Fitness Friday: Better Than Yesterday

For today’s Fitness Friday, I’m talking about injury recovery (again). We all know that injuries suck. They beat us up both physically and mentally, and we work hard to overcome them. I’ve had a number of both large and small injuries, and each time the hurdles get higher. One of the things I beat myself up over while I’m recovering is comparing my current progress against my pre-injury levels and numbers. As I was recovering from back surgery, I would get down on myself. I’d get depressed if I couldn’t hit the same numbers before my procedure.

It sounds crazy right? If it were any one of my athletes in class, I’d tell them they’re crazy for wanting to make that comparison. But when it comes to myself, it’s so easy to forget. I recently was front squatting and was a little down on myself for not reaching the weight I wanted. I sort of beat myself up for it, and spent time thinking about what went wrong. What I took away from it was that I should be really proud of what I did.

I’ve had to hurdle this ankle injury that’s lingered on since the Open. And even today, I can’t say that it’s completely 100% healed. Over the last few months, there were a few weeks where I could hardly walk on it. And even after being able to walk, I could barely do an air squat. So to front squat a weight that hovered around my one rep max that was sent earlier this year is pretty damn impressive.

That “A-ha” moment

The same goes for my friends who recently had shoulder surgeries. Two of my friends were disappointed they were unable to do high volume handstand push-ups or pressed a weight significantly less than what they had done before. As they started to go down the path of being sad, I said , “Say it with me out loud, ‘You had surgery where they cut you open and had to structurally fix you.'” Their reaction was, “Oh, well when you put it that way, I guess that’s pretty good!” Exactly!

The point is, we’re working on being better than yesterday. Past PRs, things that we were able to do once are great things to aim for. But if we’re coming back from something that physically challenges us, getting better than yesterday is really the first step forward. Getting caught up in the ghosts of our past isn’t worth revisiting. In some cases, the habits or steps we took to reach those PRs may have ultimately led to the injury that was sustained. So for this weekend, hopefully you’re able to put your best foot forward and be better than yesterday. Happy Fitness Friday!